There is a need in surgical situations for a slash-resistant surgical glove. Such a glove can contribute to the prevention of transmission of blood-borne infections, such as AIDS and hepatitis during surgery. For example, it is common during surgery for a surgeon to be nicked by a scalpel. In this manner, the scalpel can transmit blood-borne infections from the patient to the surgeon.
Some surgical gloves are made from a thin layer of latex. Examples of latex rubber gloves for medical use are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,115,873 to Stansbury, issued Sep. 26, 1978; U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,787 to Stansbury, issued Feb. 26, 1980; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,778 to Stansbury, issued Aug. 26, 1980. This type of latex glove provides excellent tactility for the surgeon yet is easily susceptible to scalpel cuts.
Cut-resistant gloves known in the prior art include various means incorporated therein for guarding against injury by a knife or a scalpel. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,804 to Consigny, issued Apr. 2, 1985, discloses a finger guard for protection against injury by a knife. The finger guard consists of a multiplicity of spaced-apart interconnected metallic lamellae. U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,756 to De Luca, Jr., issued May 25, 1965, provides a protective glove incorporating armor pieces in the finger portions. U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,251 to Bettcher, issued Sep. 11, 1984, discloses a knitted safety glove made of yarn having a core of two longitudinal strands of annealed stainless steel wire and one strand of high strength aramid fiber surrounded by an aramid fiber wrapped thereabout in one direction and a layer of nylon wrapped upon the first layer and in the opposite direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,624 to Cannady, issued Sep. 10, 1985, discloses a static-dissipating laminate. The laminate includes long and thin carbon fibers uniformly distributed throughout a fibrous print layer and a fibrous core layer. The carbon fibers have lengths from about 0.20 inch to about 0.75 inch, and diameters ranging from about 0.3 mil to about 3.0 mils. The carbon fibers are present in an amount from 1 wt. % to about 15 wt. %.
Also known are surgical gloves comprised of KEVLAR.RTM. [poly(phenylenediamine terephthalate), manufactured by E. I. DuPont], which are approximately 3 mm thick. Such KEVLAR.RTM. surgical gloves have a very low sheer. However, KEVLAR.RTM. by itself does not resist cuts or slashing; only by using multiple layers of KEVLAR.RTM. is some resistance facilitated.
These prior art gloves and finger guards are inapplicable to the situation confronted by the surgeon wherein it is first necessary to have sufficient tactility to perform delicate surgical maneuvers while it is desirable to have protection against scalpel cuts. The aforementioned prior art patents disclose either gloves which provide tactility but no cut protection or provide knife cut protection with the sacrifice of the necessary tactility.
There exists various methods for manufacturing multi-layered gloves having protective layers. U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,049 to Barlow, issued Mar. 23, 1976 discloses a process for the manufacture of gloves including the steps of precoating the fabric, curing the precoat, and then welding two pieces together along a weld zone thereby creating a seam. U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,988 to Berend, issued Feb. 8, 1983, discloses a method for making a protective two-layer coating on a glove including the steps of soaking a mold covered with a lining in a first mixture of a resin and pre-gelling the first protective layer. The lining provided with the first layer is then subjected to a partial soaking in a second mixture of resin and the layers are gelled.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,826 to Adiletta, issued Apr. 1, 1986, discloses a process for manufacturing protective gloves including the steps of drawing a vacuum to the interior of a fabric shell to cause a binding agent and fibers from a slurry to be deposited on the outer surface of the shell. A composite structure is cured to set the matrix in the desired shape.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,779 to Hart et al, issued Aug. 16, 1980, discloses a method of manufacturing a chemical-resistant glove including several steps of dipping treated substrates in a bath containing a latex dispersion. Latex-dipped gloves are air-or oven-dried to produce a rubber coated form.
Other cut-resistant surgical gloves and methods for making such surgical gloves are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,733 to Welch, issued May 30, 1989, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,290 to Welch, issued Oct. 25, 1988.